Implats Reports FY19 Swing to Net Profit

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Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP.JO) on Thursday reported a swing to a net profit for fiscal 2019 after benefiting from higher prices for platinum group metals in the year.

The South African miner, known as Implats, made a profit of 1.47 billion South African rand ($98.5 million) in the year ended June 30, compared with a loss of ZAR10.68 billion in the year-earlier period.

Headline earnings for the year--which strip out certain one-off items--came in at ZAR3.04 billion, compared with a headline loss of ZAR1.23 billion in fiscal 2018.

Revenue for the year rose 36% to ZAR48.63 billion, Implats said. Revenue was boosted by an increase in refined production of PGMs, which translated into higher sales volumes.

During the financial year, Implats sold 1.52 million ounces of platinum and 928,800 ounces of palladium, both up on the previous year. While the achieved platinum price declined 12% to $827 an ounce, the achieved palladium price rose 22% to $1,185 an ounce.

Despite the bumper results, Implats said it had decided against declaring a dividend, given the uncertain and volatile economic outlook and the restructuring process that continues at its Impala Rustenburg operations.